Co-Worker Support and Communities of Practice: Mediating Role of Employee Personal Interaction

Abstract

Communities of practice foster sharing of knowledge in the organisations. For the creation of such an organisational-level practice community, a motivating environment for the development of such practice communities should be created by the support perspective among co-workers, supervisors, and the organisation. The present study examines the relationship between Co-Worker Support and Communities of Practice with mediating role of Personal Interaction. The data was collected from 178 respondents representing the manufacturing and service sector Indian Organisations with various demographic characteristics. In accordance with the hypotheses developed, the findings supported the hypotheses. The structural equation modelling showed the path from co-worker support to communities of practice is mediated by Personal Interaction with highly significant results. The theoretical and managerial implications concerning the importance of support, most importantly co-worker support, are mentioned in the study. Future scope of research is suggested based on the current findings of this study.